As part of a wider range of upgrade modules being made for their existing VB120 and VB220 monitoring probe lines, Bridge Technologies has launched their VB278 module, which will expand the extensive capabilities of both base probes to incorporate satellite contribution and direct-to-home distribution monitoring, supporting the DVB-S, DVB-S2 and DVB-S2X modulation standards.
The base VB120 and VB220 accommodate a range of network standards, including IP unicasts and multicasts, OTT/ABR streams, and a whole range of RF formats, as well as SRT and ASI, offering key monitoring features such as TR 101 290 analysis, IP multicast monitoring, HLS/M-DASH monitoring, TS recording, RF analysis and SRT relay operations. SRT (Secure Reliability Transport) is of particular interest, because it allows for received RF streams to be converted into an IP/UDP stream, which is then made available via the SRT standard. This framework makes it possible to gain central access to streams that would otherwise be hard to access, thus giving engineers greater insight, diagnostic capability and control over their network.
Through the addition of new VB278 module, these probes gain up to four independent RF L-band inputs, which allow for the specific monitoring and analysis of the RF streams found in satellite contribution and direct-to-home distribution infrastructure. With each VB278 module, one input is activated by default, and the other three through software license key. Two VB278 modules can be added to any single chassis, therefore allowing for up to eight independent RF inputs, and through the use of round-robin operation, a significantly higher number of transponders can be monitored overall.
Alongside support for DVB-S, DVB-S2 and DVB-S2X, the VB278 supports QPSK, 8PSK and 8/16/32APSK modulation standards, along with DirecTV and AMC mode support. Configuration of the probe for symbol rate detection – requiring only the input of the frequency by the user – adds to the intuitive and easy-to-use nature of the module, an element common to all Bridge probes. Moreover, the VB278 incorporates a range of monitoring metrics and graphs specific to satellite signal analysis, including Modulation Error Rate (MER), Signal to Noise Rate (SNR), Error Vector Magnitude (EVM), Constellation Diagrams, RS Packet Error, Trend RF graphs, Pilot detection and Energy per information bit/transmitted bit/symbol to noise power spectral density ratio. These are all presented using clear, intuitive, at-a-glance metrics which inform in-the-moment decision making, along with longer term, strategic planning, both in terms of network engineering and business development. All of this data can be accessed from anywhere in the world through any HTML5-enabled web browser.
In addition, the VB278 is future-proofed through the incorporation of an expansion port for hardware add-on functionality, which in the near-future will include a Software-Defined-Radio (SDR) plug-on block which allows for a range of added functions, including waterfall spectrum analysis and I/Q spectrum triggered recording. These expanded functionalities will have importance for areas such as signal interference detection and intermittent fault analysis, and represent Bridge Technologies’ commitment to increasing the range, flexibility, functionality, versatility and capacity of their core monitoring solutions, providing for broadcasters who maintain complex, hybrid and evolving networks.
Chairman Simen K. Frostad said, “Our commitment to IP-based broadcast – a vision we’ve held for 20 years – has been vindicated in the broadcast market. But even bigger than that is our commitment to monitoring in general, regardless of platform. We will be looking forward to demonstrating this entire range of Bridge monitoring solutions at IBC2024, with a particular focus on the way that our full range of monitoring probes can be combined to meet the unique needs of individual customer systems architectures, all accessible through a single, intuitive interface. That is why we have developed an extensive range of add-ons for our core VB120 and VB220 probes, including the VB273 for redundancy and the VB258 for the monitoring of DVB-T/T2, ATSC1.0/ATSC 3.0, DVB-C, QAM-B and ISDB-T formats.”